Earls denied last-gasp chance to grab glory

France bend the rules with a sly nudge, but after clawing their way back from a ten point deficit, a draw is a fair result

Jamie Heaslip needed a strong performance and scored the first try of the night (STEPHEN MCCARTHY)

WITH five minutes remaining and the game perched on a knife edge, Ireland’s best player Peter O’Mahony caught a Morgan Parra box kick and ran it thunderously back into French territory. For once in a fiercely tight match, the flanker found a corridor through the defence and with the French on the back foot, Ireland’s replacement scrum-half Eoin Reddan dinked the cleverest kick behind the retreating defence for wing Keith Earls to chase.

As the ball arced through the air, Earls, Louis Picamoles and replacement prop Vincent Debaty raced to get to the ball first. The winner would save the game for France or win it for Ireland. But just as they reached the try line, Debaty used his right shoulder to nudge Earls away from the ball.

Fair? Probably, because France did enough in the final 30 minutes to take away something from the game and, ultimately, Ireland weren’t